Lemonrose is a nostalgic Americana emblazoned caravan serving some seriously tasty middle-eastern infused street food. The caravan is a pastiche of golden era Hollywood memorabilia and advertising, coupled with nods to America’s interpretation of the Middle East. Lemon Rose’s owner Antoine Safadi is the van in human form, with his love for the U.S is tattooed on his skin, with a large portrait of Elvis on his forearm.

“I’ve travelled through America numerous times, and I love the food, especially the street food, so I’ve just adapted that and given it bits of the Middle East.”

“I travelled America, especially for the way they do meat and I travelled around to study how they smoke meat, and the feature dish is brisket that I’ve pushed to a 24hr smoke time.”

He is no slouch in the kitchen having worked almost every kitchen job from kitchen hand to chef. He also comes from a hospitality family, with his sister also a Head Chef.

The menu is simple, no-fuss street food: burger, chips, donuts and sorbet. However its been tweaked with elements of classic middle-eastern flavours.

“Every item on the menu is touched with Lemon and Rosewater.”

The star of the menu is the 24-hour smoked shawarma Brisket burger. It’s a Middle Eastern homage to the brisket burger, with sauerkraut like cabbage and pickles. The tangy conserves cut through the fatty nature of brisket, lightening the dish.

“There are two sides to the burger, the yellow side, so your mustards and pickles which is the American side, and the pickled cabbage combo, and the rose side of the burger.” Antoin explains.

Accompanying the burger is the ‘Patates’, which comes with crispy bits of potato skins, and a dusting of sumac, garlic powder and lemon salt a bit of zaatar. Before you eat the, you squeeze your wedge of lemon and shake the box to coat them. After all that, you dip them in their secret sauce, which unfortunately Antoin wouldn’t reveal.

You’re not left stranded for options with dessert, with the Awama balls on a skewer, which are soft pillowy twice friend donuts. After you’ve inhaled all this food, you have the perfect refreshing digestive in the form of lemon rose sorbet topped with a few pistachio nuts.

“I’ve also imported the Arabic versions of American soft drinks. They have different recipes for their Pepsi and 7 up.”

Catch local artists from across Australia at the Yours and Owls Festival in Wollongong this weekend! If you can’t make it there’s loads of free shows across Sydney including Ali Barter, Emma Russack Band, as well as American Rapper Mac Miller at the Metro Theatre.